One year later what did we learn from ‘the Slap’?

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The much ballyhooed and awaited appearance by comedian Chris Rock at a theater in Baltimore finally happened fittingly the week before the Academy Awards show. The timing for Rock’s appearance was almost carefully arranged to tie in with the awards ceremony. One year earlier Rock and actor Will Smith staged the spectacle that shocked tens of millions of viewers.

The spectacle has since gone down in the lore as “the slap.” That was Smith’s physical attack on Rock for allegedly telling a bad taste joke about Smith’s wife. Smith was banned from this year’s academy awards show, suffered a momentary hit to his career and rep, and became a pariah to many for his rash act. He has apologized a dozen different ways for his act to Rock, to no avail.

Rock, for his part, said next to nothing about it for almost a year. Now with